NYPD combine being scary and funny at the same time as passerby's joke backfires...

Pavement Cyclist Abuse source YouTube .png

We’ve featured stories before of the sometimes excessive zeal with which the NYPD deals with cyclists caught riding on the sidewalk or jumping red lights – not to mention those who have done nothing wrong whatsoever. Such stories also get a lot of coverage in local media, so it's unsurprising if a passer-by might be tempted to give a bit of stick to a cyclist they see getting ticketed. After all, what’s the worse that can happen?

Well, according to this video posted to YouTube, quite a lot, such as getting surrounded by officers after back-up arrived quickly, getting stuck in handcuffs and, according to Gothamist, charged with “harassment, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest”.

The initial crime? Telling the cyclist, who was being issued with a ticket for cycling on the sidewalk, “You're a grown man, you know better than that!" Unlike the police officers, the cyclist didn’t seem too upset by the remark, replying: “I just got my training wheels off and I'm afraid of the streets!" As the Gothamist points out when it comes to cyclist harrassing the NYPD clearly take a dim view of any competition – even from people cracking harmless jokes.

The whole episode was caught on film by what seems to be local residents from their balcony, who clearly found a bit of diversion in the unscripted entertainment.

Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.